Bill Watson

[marko]

its taken me a couple of years but ive managed to locate bill, he is alive and in a care home.
he has dementia and has some good days.
i last had contact with bill in the beginning of 2022; it wasnt unusual for bill not to reply to a call or email right away as im sure others here know.

im going to go to the mainland and see him, hopefully he will remember me. ( ive known bill for at least 30 yrs).
im co-ordinating my trip over with his executor, he tells that bill might not be responsive at 1st but there is a good chance that after a while bill will start talking and remember people.
im hoping to see him in the next 6 weeks, depending on the weather i will take my 78 Salon and see if he is upto going for a drive.

mark

 

[polara71]

That is VERY SAD news. I've never met Bill but started bumping elbows with him on the Yahoo boards and the Drydock in 96. When he talked I paid attention.
Shame, all that knowledge.

 

[PeugFra]

I pay homage to Bill. I was thinking of him just the other day. A very thoughtful person with extremely broad knowledge.

 

[Big_John]

Sad to hear this.

 

[commando1]

Sad to hear this.

Very sad!

 

[marko]

i visited with Bill yesterday, he is looking healthy and very well cared for ( i work health care and was impressed with the facility he is living in). he is in a wheelchair due to unsteadiness on his feet.
i dont think he knew exactly how he knows me but he seemed happy to see me and i told him people were asking about him.
i took my laptop and we looked through pics of moparfest, car shows etc; he knew my 78 Salon when he saw it.
we talked for quite awhile about cars, his collection etc and he was pretty on point for most of it but did get quietly sidetracked on other things that we werent actually talking about.
i will probably see him again after january, and hopefully Kevin Mccabe will go with me to see Bill.

 

[Samplingman]

For us newcomers here, what cars was Bill involved with? any threads here we can reference?

 

[marko]

For us newcomers here, what cars was Bill involved with? any threads here we can reference?

Bill Watson is a very knowledgeable mopar historian who has alot of information that he has collected since he was a teen. he has collections of other makes as well, studebaker is another make that is important to him. he's now in his mid 70s and unfortunately has dementia.
Bill dropped out of sight early 2022; i finally managed to find out what happened / where he was this last summer. ive know bill since around 1990.

Bill was always a mopar guy and a studebaker guy as well to a lesser degree. He has written quite a few articles on a variety of places - Allpar for 1. heres a link to his articles there :

https://www.allpar.com/search/311700/?q=Bill+Watson&t=post&o=relevance

his id on here is Bill Watson, you can check out his postings - usually offering info on production, colours and canadian market info. he was into early valiants and his last car was a slant 6 Plymouth Caravelle ( a canadian market version of the dodge diplomat).

Bill Watson

 

[polara71]

He had contributions in magazines too, no?

 

[marko]

He had contributions in magazines too, no?

yes, but i cant find the info on which at the moment - i should have added the info, tx
i will add it when i get it

 

[3175375]

Alzheimer’s is a terrible disease and I am saddened to hear that Bill has this.
I was unaware of his contributions to the hobby, which is appreciated by myself and many.

It’s good to hear that he’s in a place where he’s receiving good care.

 

[polara71]

I think i thought he had some contributions to Collectible Automobile

 

[73Coupe]

I was previously unwise to Bill's contributions and friendship to the Mopar scene but I'm moved to see this thread. I probably have read his various articles on Allpar over the years.
Your compassion is exemplary, @marko.

 

[Fratzog]

Bill Watson is a very knowledgeable mopar historian who has alot of information that he has collected since he was a teen. he has collections of other makes as well, studebaker is another make that is important to him. he's now in his mid 70s and unfortunately has dementia.
Bill dropped out of sight early 2022; i finally managed to find out what happened / where he was this last summer. ive know bill since around 1990.

Bill was always a mopar guy and a studebaker guy as well to a lesser degree. He has written quite a few articles on a variety of places - Allpar for 1. heres a link to his articles there :

https://www.allpar.com/search/311700/?q=Bill+Watson&t=post&o=relevance

his id on here is Bill Watson, you can check out his postings - usually offering info on production, colours and canadian market info. he was into early valiants and his last car was a slant 6 Plymouth Caravelle ( a canadian market version of the dodge diplomat).

Bill Watson

Thanks Marko for making the effort to follow up with Bill and putting us in the picture. I never knew Bill personally but came to respect his willingness to share his extensive knowledge. When he did share information it was always very comprehensive. For many of us he filled in a lot of the gaps due the infamous Chrysler documents fire. I'm very sorry to hear about his decline. My understanding was he had an extensive personal library of rare original documents. I hope it is secured by someone who will look after it.

 

[Dobalovr]

Very glad you were able to track Bill down Mark but also bittersweet seeing what that awful disease does to a person. I am sure he enjoyed the car show pictures and you no doubt brightened his day. You and Bill have supplied so much intel on the Canadian market cars along with Ken that as a valuable resource we need you guys now more than ever as the knowledge is slipping away. Thanks for your compassion in visiting Bill we all aprreciate the update.